Vallejo school board divided over LCAP budget

For a brief time Wednesday night, a majority of the Vallejo school board rejected a crucial part of the new fiscal year budget.

The move prompted the Vallejo City Unified School District interim superintendent to question whether he should continue his employment with the district.

VCUSD Board of Trustees Vice President Burky Worel, along with trustees Marianne Kearney-Brown, and Tony Ubalde voted against approving the district’s $22 million Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP).

The LCAP is a three-year planning and accountability document which guides the school district’s spending on students and programs under Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula.

Each budget cycle the LCAP is reviewed and adjusted accordingly by district staff and ultimately approved by the board.

Prior to the vote, Ubalde expressed concern that not enough counseling resources were dedicated to Everest Academy — a special education school for middle and high school students.

Kearney-Brown said she was worried about the enrollment projections included in the LCAP. By fiscal year 2019-20, the district included a goal of having 18,031 students, an increase from the current 13,547 baseline.

Kearney-Brown called the goal “lofty” and wondered why it was included in the document.

Staff said the 18,031 number describes the district’s desire to have increased enrollment. They stressed, however, the district is not using that number for budgeting purposes.

A motion to approve the LCAP was defeated, 2-3, with only Board President Ruscal Cayangyang and Trustee Bob Lawson approving the LCAP.

“We have a problem,” Cayangyang said immediately after the vote.

“(I’m) not quite sure why the board did not approve this budget,” said interim Superintendent Steve Goldstone. “Puts us in a real bind.”

Ubalde explained his “no” vote, stating the special needs students at Everest are not getting the resources they need to be successful.

“I know those students have tremendous needs,” he said.

Kearney-Brown said if she is “going to vote for something, I have to have information.” She said that for the past few months she has asked district staff about different issues and haven’t gotten a response.

Kearney-Brown again stressed that she didn’t understand how the district calculated the 18,000 enrollment figure.

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The vote appeared to frustrate Goldstone as he explained that during his time as interim he has been responsive to the board’s needs and provided budget workshops, and brought in consultants to assist the district when needed.

“I would love to continue as your interim superintendent but if you can’t support this recommendation for LCAP as well the subsequent one for the general fund budget, I’m really going to have to reconsider,” Goldstone said.

As one of the trustees who voted against, Ubalde offered a motion to reconsider. However, prior to that vote, Worel and Kearney-Brown engaged in a back-and-forth confrontation.

“People up here are not understanding what they are doing. You’ve got Trustee Ubalde that doesn’t want to vote for it because he can’t get one particular item out of this entire LCAP,” Worel said. “Trustee Kearney-Brown wouldn’t vote for it because she doesn’t like the (enrollment) projection and she doesn’t like one program.”

Worel said the trustees should “start thinking about the whole district.”

Kearney-Brown then read a section of Robert’s Rules of Order about debate decorum.

“The last speaker arraigned my motives,” she said about Worel. “He has assigned me a motive that wasn’t me and then disparaged me.”

Worel responded to Kearney-Brown.

“As long as Trustee Kearney-Brown thinks I’m being so bad to her, I guess it’s time for me to finally go to the district attorney about something,” Worel said before an audience member began to shout “point of order.”

Cayangyang then called a point of order, which caused Worel to respond.